June 25, 2023 - Belgium
Bastogne War Museum

Leaving Diekirch, we headed west back through Ettelbruck to Martelange, then due north to Bastogne.   About halfway between Martelange and Bastogne, we crossed into Belgium.  This was the heart of the Ardennes Forest but it was not what I expected.  I thought we would be driving through heavy forest.  Instead it was mostly farm country in rolling hills, with the occasional stand of trees.

We drove through Bastogne to get to the Bastogne War Museum on the northeast part of town.

Unlike the first two war museums we saw today, this one was new, modern and state-of-the-art.  That said, I didn't really get too much out of it.  Lynnette sat this one out.  The exhibits were well done, but there weren't so many.  The information was the general stuff that I already knew.  A lot of space was just filled with fluff.
   
The American primary tank of WWII, the M4 Sherman.
 
When the M4 tank went into combat in North Africa with the British Army at the Second Battle of El Alamein in late 1942, it increased the advantage of Allied armor over Axis armor and was superior to the lighter German and Italian tank designs. For this reason, the US Army believed that the M4 would be adequate to win the war, and relatively little pressure was initially applied for further tank development.  But when the Allies landed in Normandy in June 1944, the Sherman was outclassed by the German Panther and Tiger tanks.
   

Belgian Leon Degrelle:   "the poster boy for all European collaborators."

Leon Degrelle was a Belgian Walloon politician and Nazi collaborator. He rose to prominence in Belgium in the 1930s as the leader of the Rexist Party. In 1941, Degrelle organized and himself joined and fought in the Walloon Legion, a unit of the German Army and, after 1943, the Waffen-SS. The Walloon Legion distinguished itself in combat on the Eastern Front.  Degrelle's performance in 1944 at the Cherkassy pocket and subsequent decorations turned him into a model for foreign collaborators.  Following the liberation of Belgium in late 1944, Degrelle was stripped of his citizenship and was sentenced to death in absentia. Early the next year, he fled to Spain, where with the help of the Spanish government he went into hiding from Belgian authorities in August 1946.  He died in Spain in 1994, age 87.
   
Hundreds of P-47 Thunderbolts, fresh from the factory.
   
German soldier with Panzerfaust.
   
For their 1944 winter offensive, the Germans planned a surprise attack through the Ardennes forest northwest towards the port of Antwerp, which would have cut off British and American armies to the north.  Unlike 1940, this time the Ardennes was defended and although gaines were made and it was not easy for the Americans, the Germans never even reached the Meuse River.
   
German Assault Gun.
   
German troops
   
German soldier.
   
Battle of the Bulge map.
   
This was the German equivalant of the famous U.S. Jeep.
   
A Sherman that took a big hit on the side.
   
German artifacts including the infamous MG 42 machine gun.
   
Luftwaffe pilot
   
P24
   
Behind the museum was the huge Mardasson Memorial.  You can't tell from the ground level but it's in the shape of a five-pointed star.  The Memorial honors the memory of American soldiers who were wounded or killed in the Battle of the Bulge.  The Memorial was closed for renovation.
   

Paid admission to the Bastogne War Museum includes admission to the Bois Jacques which turned out to be the highlight of the Bastogne visits.

Bois Jacques is located in the small village of Foy, not far from Bastogne. It still bears the traces of the fighting that "Easy Company" -- of 'Band of Brothers' fame of the 101st Airborne Division did during the Battle of the Bulge.
   
You couldn't get through the fence gate into the woods without a ticket from the Bastogne War Museum.
   
Walking through the Ardennes Forest on a nice summer day.
   
This is what I had pictured all of the Ardennes Forest to look like.  Maybe it was back in the early 1940s, but not present day.
   
Remnants of Easy Company foxholes overlooking a clearing.
   
The 101st Airborne was spread out in a thin line all around Bastogne, but the Bois Jacques is the place where you can still see some of their foxholes. This land, protected since 2017, can’t be cleared or bulldozed.
   
The clearing.
   
More foxholes.
   
 
   

Because Lynnette didnt go in to the Bastogne War Museum, she didn't have a ticket to go into the Bois Jacques.  She didn't seem too upset.
   

We stayed just outside of town in an AirBnB.  This was our this standalone apartment  the across the courtyard parking lot from the main house.  The apartment was new and modern; very nice.

There really wasn't a whole lot too the town of Bastogne.  We did go to the town main square -- McAuliffe Square -- named for General Anthony McAuliffe, the leader of the Allied troops who defended Bastogne in 1944.  A Sherman tank that was damaged in the battle stands guard at the edge of the square.  For some reason we did not eat dinner at the Nuts Cafe, named for one of the battle’s most interesting stories. When the Germans encircled the town in December of 1944, they sent men to McAuliffe’s headquarters to ask him to surrender within 2 hours, as his situation seemed hopeless. His famous one-word reply? “Nuts!” And so, the Germans returned to their lines without a surrender. Morale among the beleaguered American troops soared after they heard of this gutsy reply that’s gone down in history.  But we did have a nice dinner outside on main street.  For some reason, we did not take any pictures of Bastogne town.

I -- maybe not Lynnette -- could have spent another day or two in the area.  There were a bunch of museums and attractions we did not have time for:  101st Airborne Museum, Foy, Bastogne Barracks and War Rooms, December 44 Historical Museum, Baugnez 44 Historical Center, Malmedy, St. Vith.
   
 
   
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